Psalm 25:19
19 Consider [ra'ah] mine enemies
['oyeb]; for they are many [rabab]; and they hate [sane'] me
with cruel [chamac] hatred [sin'ah]. KJV-Interlinear
19 Look
upon my enemies, for they are many; And they hate me with violent hatred. NASB
Consider, here, does not
ask God to begin thinking about the enemies of the believer, or to take notice
of them as though God had not seen them before, but more like David is pointing
out, that there are in fact enemies and they are numerous and their intentions
are not good, but extremely bad.
And so in this chapter David
has listed some of the basics of the spiritual life and of the spiritual relationship
that a believer, any believer, every believer, has with God. And here is yet another on that list of factual
items that exists in every believers life.
We all have enemies. As believers, the world is the enemy, the
world representing all that is anti-God and therefore anti-truth becomes a source
of opposition toward the believer.
The numbers of enemies,
many, ‘rahab,’ is typically used in the form of tens of thousands, or in other
words, a huge innumerable number that is beyond counting.
It is said that there are
four typical categories of enemies.
First, there is ones own
thoughts and actions. You can be your
own worst enemy when you lack doctrine or when you function outside of the fellowship
sphere. Especially when you get caught up in triple discipline against
yourself.
Triple discipline is when
you commit a sin, direct it against another, and it comes back to burn you like
a boomarang. For example, all gossips
get caught up in this compounding of discipline. They gossip, they direct it
against another, and the evil they wished upon their target, is re-directed
back onto themselves. Revenge,
retaliation, vindictiveness and such are other examples wherein the hate built
up against someone, for whatever reason, becomes your own tool of
self-destruction.
It matters not whether
you were in the right or not, judgment is not yours to dish out against anyone. Social crusades against anyone is evil to the
core. Most evil folks set out to ruin
someone, because they feel slighted in some way, but they only succeed in
destroying themselves.
And many times you can be
put in a position where you have no alternative for getting things done that
you have an obligation to do yourself.
And God sees how you handle it and how others that you may be obligated
to, handle it.
The second category of trouble
sources is other people. People can be infuriating.
They lie, they cheat, they are
untrustworthy, they cause trouble, they are vindictive, they are rude, they are
demanding, they treat you like dirt, and on and on. Just living in this world among people is a
test of patience and poise in itself.
The third category, is
bureaucracy. If you have ever had to
deal with organizations, government, the politics of an organization, then you
know that people hide behind their bureaucracy and paperwork and red tape. No single person is held accountable, or
responsible, it is always another department’s job, or someone else's
responsibility. Nothing gets done, and
no one does anything. Or it takes
forever to get anywhere. And you the
individual, the little guy as it were, are left holding the bag or the cost or
you are simply out of luck.
The fourth category is
the natural laws of nature and human handicaps.
Things happen in life. Birth
defects, accidents, storms, and what have you.
Fair or not, you can get caught up in a storm or an accident that will
leave you with little or nothing in the aftermath. And rebuilding or just
living may prove to be difficult and time consuming if not impossible.
So, look around, God,
says David, this world is full of enemies and potential attacks.
It is the devils world and
there is nothing in this world that is out there to make you successful. For success means spiritual success with God
and your personal eternity. Satan does
not want you to be successful in Gods sight.
He wants you to fail in order for him to succeed in defeating God. Satan and the world in general will do all they
can to make you look bad and make you miserable, or tempt you away from truth
so you will become a part of the problem, too.
So, all of this is just
another reason that we need God in our life, because there is an overwhelming
opposition against us out there, which none of us can handle.
